Nerves

Half Marathon tomorrow! Wahoo!!

I have not been this nervous about a half marathon in a long time!

It's not really that I'm nervous I won't be able to do it. I know I can do it, but I'm worried that I will push myself too hard and hurt myself more.

This week has been spring break for my kids so I've been pretty relaxed with working out, and we've just been doing some fun things. Monday we went to the new aquarium that just opened this month. It was REALLY crowded, but it was also really cool, especially this tunnel where you get to walk under the sharks, sting rays and fish. It really felt like we were under water!

Tuesday we went to the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park with some friends which was really fun especially because it was kind of gloomy so we pretty much had the place to ourselves! It started snowing after we got home, but it wasn't too bad for most of the time we were there. Our timing was pretty perfect!

I stopped taking the prednisone on Tuesday and when I talked to my doctor's office, they told me to run 3-4 miles and let them know how it felt afterwards. I was actually heading out the door to take Elle to ballet when they called, so I hurried and grabbed my running things and changed at the studio. I drove back to Liberty Park and ran a little more than 2 laps around it, which ended up being just about 3.5 miles. It's a nice place to run, and I like how one loop is more than a mile! My achillies felt a little stiff when I started, but it warmed up after half a mile or so, then it felt great! It was awesome to be out running again, and each mile got a little faster, even though I told myself this was just going to be an easy run.

When I got home, it was sore to the touch and the next morning it was a little more stiff then it had been the morning before, but it didn't hurt too bad. I called the doctor again and told the receptionist about it, but she hasn't called me back... She told me before that if it was sore they would have me keep taking the prednisone, but if not to just take 2 Friday night and 3 Saturday morning. So that's what I'm planning on doing.

Wednesday I went swimming which was really good, then cleaned the house, then took everyone to the dentist. Fun, fun! George was the only one with cavities which will be really sad when I bring him back to get them fill, but I'm glad no one else had any! When we got home I went back to the pool with the kids and we met some friends there so that was fun.

Thursday was a really lazy day for me, but I think that was good because it gave my achillies some more good rest. I did have two of my friends call me to make sure I was ok in the morning because, sadly, someone drowned in the pool I go to! It is such a tragedy, and also kind of a strange mystery because he had broken into the building before it opened so it happened while no one was there. I just don't understand why or how this happened, and I don't know if anyone knows yet. This is all they say about it in the news. I feel so bad for the life guards who found him. How awful! I might have gone swimming that day or today, but I'm still feeling too freaked out about it to go back to the pool yet.

Even after all the swimming on Wednesday and the relaxed day Thursday, my calves are really sore! Especially my left one, which isn't the one with the sore achillies. I rolled them out last night and they do feel better today, but it still feels like I have a big rock in my calf! Ouch! It just makes me nervous because if I'm this sore after running 3.5 flat, easy miles, how sore am I going to be after 13.1?? I am also worried it will still be sore tomorrow so I'm icing right now and plan to wear my compression socks for at least the rest of the day and through the night. I haven't decided if I want to run in them yet, though. I always have problems with blisters on the bottoms of my feet and I they might make that worse.

My achllies is feeling pretty good right now. I thought about running a couple miles today to try and loosen my legs up, and also to test out my achillies, but I decided I didn't want to risk making it sore again right before the race. I did walk around with the kids at the zoo this morning though!

So I really have only ran 3.5 miles in the last 2 weeks, but I should still be ok right?!

Yeah, I'm super nervous!

My goal for this race is to take AT LEAST 2 hours. If I get a PR on this race, I will be mad at myself! I just want to enjoy the beautiful scenery and the company of the other racers, and just have fun. I am signed up for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon in 2 weeks as well so my hope is to have this half be more of a training run for that, and maybe I'll be able to push myself a little more on it. We'll see.

Also it might snow on us. No biggie.